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It will be asked, what is the point of view of the London Missionary Society, which is responsible for the education of the majority of the children concerned ? I reply, first, that the L.M.S. welcome anything that makes for the good of Samoa and the welfare of its people. That is our business here. The L.M.S. feel, as I have already pointed out, that the time has arrived for a forward movement in the work of education of our Samoan people. They are rapidly getting civilized. Tho old communistic life is passing. The influenza epidemic marked a crisis in the lifo of Samoa. The old leaders and chiefs whose counsel and leadership formerly controlled Samoa wore nearly all swept away ; the young chiefs and matai are not only destitute of power but destitute of influence. The new Constitution, moreover, avowedly aims at the destruction of Samoa as a self-governing community. The only hope for the preservation of the Samoan race as a nation lies in education. Tho idea is prevalent with quite a number of New-Zoalanders amongst us that tho mission of the Samoan is to become a hewer of wood, a drawer of water, and a plantation labourer for tho benefit of the white man. Men who reason thus know nothing of the genius of the Samoan character, and entirely underestimate their capabilities and their ideals. The Samoan is proud and ambitious, and keenly alive to his future possibilities. A fair share of his land has been providentially spared to him out of the European plunder of past years, and, thank God, cannot bo diverted from him for some years to come. We welcome any educational scheme that will meantime fit him to cultivate his own land to the best advantage, either by his own labour or labour which he employs, and which will prepare him to become a useful citizen of the Empire. It seems to us that an education that will enable him to tako a part in European commerce and civilization, to benefit by European literature, and to understand and live up to the idoal of European Christianity must certainly be worth while. We remember, too, that New Zealand has a Mandate in relation to Samoa, and that therefore it is " up to her " to do something for the intellectual and moral betterment of the people over whom she has jurisdiction. If New Zealand can take up the work which our mission has done with limited resources and with only a moral control, and can organize an educational scheme better and more efficient than ours, wo shall welcome the assistance and do all we can in support. The question is, can she ? One thing is certain, and that is that the Government will be well advised in this matter to consult the representatives of missions before embarking on this costly and difficult enterprise. The London Missionary Society in Samoa has not hitherto been overwhelmed by tho consideration or the courtesy of the Government, but it is safe to say that even the immature scheme outlined by the 'Director of Education can nover sucossf ully come to birth without tho co-operation of this society. I have already shown our willingness to assist in any well-organized and practicable scheme. The Advisory Council, however well intentioned, will know very little of the practical difficulties in educating this Native race, and in the nature of things will not be an authority on the work of education. As the scheme outlined to us by the Director of Education is, on the testimony of General Robin, only in process of incubation, we have not attempted any criticism. We await the matured scheme ; at present it amounts to little more than the substitution of a white teacher in the existing district (faamasani) schools. We feel bound to add that the attempts so far at Government education are not very encouraging, and fully warrant tho citizens' fear of enormous expense with very inadequate results, and their contention, and the contention of all the other missionary societies, that the work could be done infinitely better and at much smaller cost by the existing agencies if encouraged and helped by a Government subsidy based on results. Finances of Samoa. In approaohing this very big subject it is not the general wish of the residents to carp and complain about what has been done under military rule in Samoa for the past five years ; not to pick holes in, or point out, the apparent present overstaffing and cost of some of the Departments—matters that should rather be left to the careful consideration of our future Administrator and his advisers ; but to go generally into the future policy as indicated by tho several actions already taken, and by those we hear are projected, in connection with civil administration in Samoa, and which actions and projected actions up to date have given us, as citizens and taxpayers, cause for vory grave concern. Taking first the statistics for as far back as possible, from available records, we find the following : By treaty between the three Powers, Western Samoa was ceded to Germany in 1900, after a long series of wars which terminated shortly before annexation. The first clear year of the German Administration (1901) showed a gross revenue of £14,250, which had to meet an expenditure of £24,700, which expenditure was largely for reconstruction. The revenue increased until by 1911 it had reached the total sum of £41,350, and surpluses were already shown since 1903. Imperial donations started from tho very first year (1901), £8,500, tho largest being in 1903, £13,000 ; and these Imperial donations ceased in 1908. In 1910 Samoa started to contribute to the expenses of the Samoa branch of the German Colonial Office. The occupying Forces arrived here in August, 1914, and the first statement of revenue and expenditure issued by the Administration reveals tho fact that from September, 1914, to the 31st March, 1915, the revenue was £29,015, which, with the money taken over from the German Administration, made a total of £43,456, from which a balance of £13,711, cash in hand at Treasury, was carried forward to the new financial year which opened Ist April, 1915. In 1915-16 tho total revenue amounted to £68,663. English currency replaced the German early that year, and to meet currency notes issued to the amount of £53,000 a large sum was put in investment, and the year closed with a Treasury balance of £2,664 in hand. Tho revenue of 1916-17 amounted to £74,596, and by 1918-19 it had reached the gratifying total of £88,295, with an expenditure of £89,778. It will be seen that in seventeen years the revenue of Samoa has increased more than sixfold, and during the British Administration it has increased by about 30 per cont., and wo feel, certain that under Civil Government and normal conditions the total should soon exceed £100,000. We might mention here that export taxes levied since the advent of military occupation, on copra and cocoa, assisted our revenue in 1918-19 by £6,500. Through the newspapers of New Zealand we first learned of the formation and probable cost of the Samoan Constabulary, and as far as could be estimated tho annual cost of salaries and allowances, housing of the Force and keep of horses, &c., would approximate £30,000 per annum, and which cost, in the absence of information to the contrary, we feared would bo a direct charge on our revenue. Since tho arrival of the Force in Samoa it has been verbally stated that the cost of same will not be a charge on our finances at all ; but in view of the reported address by Sir James Allen to the Force, just prior to its departure from New Zealand, we were fully justified in thinking that its maintenance was a part and parcel of the future cost of civil administration in Samoa. Sir James Allen is reported as follows :— " In the course of a speech to the men Sir James said he thought they knew the Samoan belonged to the same race as the Maoris, the Polynesian race, and. in many respects wore like the Maori people, proud and dignified. Thoy had a special duty towards them, because this was tho first time they were taking over the civil administration of Samoa. Since it was captured in 1914 Samoa had been under military occupation. Now that was being changed. The Constabulary were the first evidence of the great change that was being made. " The Samoans," continued tho Minister, " wero a peculiar people, but they would learn to know them better after they had been there some time. They had a great responsibility towards them, and in that they were responsible to the League of Nations, to whom they had to report every year. The League of Nations would watch them very closely. It was their first experiment in government beyond their own shores. They were told that they could not do it, and they wanted to prove that they could do it with success. " Sir James said he wished to point out that the men on parade as constabulary would be a most important factor in the administration of Samoa. They were going as the representatives of the British race to bo the trustees of the Natives, to maintain justice in all times and difficulties. They would come closely into contact with the Samoan people. He was not so much concerned about the whites as about the Natives, and he appealed to them to carry out their duties with dignity, calmly and firmly. The Natives respected a dignified man. They should always be dignified. He wanted to see them a fine upstanding body of men, typical of the British race and the best Now Zealand could produce. If they did that they would help the Now Zealand Government very materially in laying the foundations of

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